An Alternative Natural History of Sussex.
This blog shows the highlights of my day to day findings as a naturalist and ecologist living and working in Sussex. Delivered with a pinch of nihilism, a dash of sarcasm and absolutely no tweeness, here is my attempt to show natural history as it really is: Brutal, beautiful, uncompromising and fascinating...and occasionally ridiculous.

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About Me

I have been studying natural history for some twenty-eight years, fifteen in a professional capacity. I currently work in Sussex as the Senior Ecologist for Sussex Wildlife Trust where I advise on the management of reserves based upon the results of the ecological surveys I carry out. Views here are my own however. I run a number of identification courses and I also do a small amount of freelance ecological consultancy. My main areas of interest are birds, plants and invertebrates and a lot of my spare time is spent in the field. I don't look like a birdwatcher.

After showing me his Wrinkled Peach, Howard took me to a fantastic wall on the Goodwood estate with some rather fantastic mosses. It was one of those moments where you see a new community for the first time and nearly everything is different and new. First off was the species I coveted the most, Prince of Wales Feather-mossLeptodon smithii.

And here is the exact same moss when it is dry and curled up.

Growing with the above was this moss (quite nice for an acrocarp) and also very distinctive. Howard found this soon after getting into mosses in the 1980s and it is still one of the most easterly sites for this species in the UK. It's Tortella nitida.

On the top of the same wall, I was also shown this moss which looked quite like the much commoner Homalothecium sericeum at first but was quite different on closer inspection. It's Leucodon sciuroides.

And here is Howard holding up a column, Howard is the one on the right.

I was then shown a are moss growing on the exposed roots of a Beech tree and was pleasantly surprised to find the two bryophytes growing adjacent to this moss were also ticks. So, in the order that they were revealed to me we have Cirriphyllum crassinervium.

The rather crisped up liverwort Porella platyphylla.

And the rare one, Scorpiurium circinatum.

And finally. growing on flints on the ground. The tiny and scarce liverwort Lophocolea fragrans.